Unusual You
by Mirrored Illusions
Summary: After watching Trish being taken away, Jessica calls Faith and accepts the job offer from two years ago.
1. Unusual You

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-Chosen & JJ: Post-AKA Everything.  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Jessica Jones/MCU belongs to the Stan Lee Estate and Marvel.

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 03 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.  
**A/N 2**: Follows 2018's 'Strength in Numbers'.

It had been more than two years since Faith offered an alcoholic with anger management problems in New York City a job with the Sineya Council, when out of the blue one day she received a call from an unknown number with an NYC area code. SC had kept an eye on her, but for the most part, it had just been whoever had passed through NYC in the vicinity of where she lived. That person or those people had made sure she was doing as well as could be expected and had then moved on with whatever they were there to do.

Before Faith had been able to give more than a slightly suspicious "Yeah?" in greeting to the unknown caller, an unfamiliar woman's voice began talking without even attempting to use some kind of greeting.

"I'll take it. Whatever the job is, I'll take it." Faith blinked and moved the phone a little away from her face so she could look at it again to see if the number was something she recognized after all, before replacing it so she could keep listening. Slayer hearing meant she'd hear it regardless, but she was in a public place and it would've looked weird.

"Who's this?" The voice and the area code tried to tell her something that was swimming just out of reach, but she had been shopping with several of the mini-Slayers and her mind was fried. The phone call had finally given her an excuse to get away from them for a little while. Mostly she just wanted to beat something into a bloody pulp and then find someone to give her a really good fuck so she could spend all of her pent up energy and frustration. But a random caller giving her a break from the teenage drama would work, too.

"Jessica Jones. You gave me this number and offered me a job." Something clicked in her mind and she remembered a drunken woman in New York two years ago who could jump six feet straight up while drunk. "Has the offer expired?"

"No, no. We could still use you." Her mind swirled and all thoughts of fighting some hapless vamps and a roll in the sack to scratch her itch vanished from her mind. "I just thought you'd trashed my card at the first opportunity. Especially since I haven't heard from you in two years."

"I almost did."

"I was hoping you would at least take me up on the offer to spar. You looked like you could need someone to fight for a few hours." She had actually looked like she wanted to drown herself in cheap whiskey, but a little violence therapy had always worked for Faith so she might be projecting a little.

A snort came over the line, "More shit has happened, so maybe I'll take you up on it later."

That was as good of a lead-in as she was going to get so she asked, "Are you still in Hell's Kitchen?" An affirmative response and she continued, "I'm in Boston. Can you drive here?"

A resolute, "I don't drive", made her change tactics.

"How about flying, or the train?"

"I'll take the train. What's your address?"

Faith rattled off the address to the Council owned house she was currently staying in with the mini-Slayers. "Do you want me to pick you up at the station or are you taking a cab?"

"I'll text you with the answer when I'm an hour away." And then she abruptly hung up, leaving Faith to her own confusion.

Okay. There was an emotionally damaged superhero with a drinking problem coming to stay with her. The house she was currently staying in had two permanent mini-Slayer living there along with their Watchers. Problem was, they were 18 and below the drinking age and the Watchers were of the stiff upper lip variety. Which meant moving an alcoholic into the house would cause problems since all Slayers had an enhanced sense of smell and the teenaged terrors couldn't keep their traps shut for very long.

She should probably call someone and warn them, preferably the local Watchers. It would be the proper thing to do, as she had been told many times before by a large assortment of Watchers and other people. Opening her phonebook she scrolled through the numbers, but nothing seemed right and when she reached the end she just took the easy option and sent off a short text to B. It would have to do. B was Little Miss Responsibility and would know what to do about it, so Faith wouldn't have to deal with the paperwork.

At least the housing situation was temporary. Faith spent most of her time traveling wherever her instincts and Dreams told her to go, and if it leads her nearby a Slayer House she would stay for a week or two. She'd been in Boston for five days and had planned to leave the day after, but that would have to be postponed now.

Now all she had to do was survive feeding the bottomless pits that were the two mini's and then get them home in time to either greet her guest or pick her up.


	2. Stake Through the Heart

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 04 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

Jessica Jones hadn't really changed much in the last two years. Her unblemished and smooth porcelain skin was still a pale white, but her black hair was a little longer. If she'd worn a blood-red lipstick she might've resembled a poor, rebellious Snow White. She still wore well-worn skinny jeans and the same black leather jacket.

On the upside, she was able to walk the line, even if it was more due to habitual drinking than actual sobriety. Her breath smelled like the cheap whiskey she'd been drinking two years ago, but her eyes were alert despite the pain visible there. Faith chose not to ask - if the other woman wanted her to know she'd tell on her own.

"Hey. Car's right outside." Illegally parked, but somehow she doubted Jessica would care. Once they reached the car, Jessica threw both of her bags, all of her worldly possessions Faith guessed, into the trunk and then got into the passenger seat.

The text message she had received had been short, just a simple 'Train station' and the time of arrival from the same unknown number as before. This time Faith saved it into her phonebook since she'd forgotten to do it earlier. Ditching the mini's had been a relief, but thankfully they were more interested in their newly purchased stuff than the older Slayer and whatever she might be up to. She'd been there several times before so the novelty had worn off.

It was getting dark so Faith decided to do some multitasking and handed the other woman the NDA. "Read it, you can sign it when we're there so we can get to the good part."

"We're not dropping by your home first?" She did take the forms though and gave it a quick look. "This is a non-disclosure agreement."

"It isn't my home, just a temporary place. There are teenagers there so it's better if we get this out of the way first. Then you can decide what you want to do next, once you know what the options are."

She snorted at the teenage part of the answer but nodded while skimming the contract. "Where are we going?"

"Show and tell. The stuffy suits can give you the long speech later." Jessica eyed her suspiciously but opted to keep reading rather than ask questions just yet. Which Faith appreciated.

The stuffy suits weren't actually that bad, but they were trying to coral super-strong young women who knew they held the real power and the suits were only in charge because they were being allowed the illusion (and the young ladies in question didn't want the paperwork). Both of them were remnants from the Old Council but had been able to make the transition to the new and improved Sineya Council. Not all of them had been willing or able to do so. She really didn't envy Giles those conversations.

The rest of the ride was made in silence, with the only sounds being the car and the rustling of paper. It was heaven compared to the car ride she'd had earlier with the mini-Slayers, so she enjoyed the silence while she could and tried to figure out how to tell the woman beside her what she had actually agreed to help them with.

In the end, she decided to just fuck it and drove straight to a cemetery she knew hadn't been patrolled in a while and that was rumored to be a meeting place for a small group of lower-level vamps because of it. They were clearly not the brightest demons on the world's surface if it was true.

Jessica looked up from re-reading the NDA when the car stopped and Faith turned off the engine. "Why are we outside a cemetery?"

"Told you; show and tell." She waved her hand a little impatiently, "Sign it so we can get to the good part."

Still looking like she expected the whole thing to be a set-up, she accepted the pen she was given and scribbled her name and initials at all the right places before handing everything back. Faith didn't take offense, she'd been through enough shit that she knew a graveyard wasn't somewhere you normally took a stranger unless you intended for something bad to happen to them.

She stowed the annoyingly necessary paperwork back into the bag she'd gotten them from and mentally called it done. The suits could deal with the rest. B had sent her the contract over email and she'd printed it. It was enough.

They got out of the car and through the fancy gate into the boneyard, and Faith just took a stroll.

"The fuck's going on? I took a job offer, not the chance for some lunatic to try and lure me into a trap."

"It's not a trap. Well, not for us anyway. Sooner or later we're going to get attacked and then the real explanations will begin. Just be patient and stay back until you know how this is done. Then, and only then can you join and vent some of that pent up frustration you're itching to do something about."

Jessica kept trying to get more information but was only given the run-around. Annoyed she put her hands in her pockets and just walked. It took a good ten minutes before something interesting finally took place.

It began with some very careful footsteps, so low that even Faith had to strain her ears to be able to hear them, but it didn't take long before vampires lost what little patience they had and rushed them using their supernatural speed. Faith quickly put one of her stakes into Jessica's hands and then she burst into action dusting two of the vampires in quick succession.

The remaining ones engaged Faith into a fight that the Slayer deliberately prolonged so her new recruit could get a good look at what they were up against. After a four minute fight, she dusted one of them and caught the last one, forcing it to its knees in a convenient pool of artificial light so Jessica could get a good look at its bumpy grrr-face.

"This is a vampire," she forced his face up so all of the ridges and bumps were visible, yellow eyes and pointy fangs included. It opened its mouth attempting to bite Jessica when she came closer but was unable to get out of the Slayer's tight grip. It had the added benefit of allowing Jessica to see all of his pointy teeth up close.

"Some of them are smarter than others. This one's just a lower-level minion, the smarter ones avoid boneyards and other cliches hangouts for the undead." Faith and the vamp exchanged some sub-par repartee before she grew bored.

"Want to try fighting him?"

"Hell, yeah."

"Remember, to kill him you need to put the stake into his heart. Miss and he'll just try to bite you." Then she let him go. The following fight was messy. Neither of them had much skill beyond the bar brawl stage and chose to rely heavily on their enhanced speed, durability, and how difficult it was to actually cause real harm to them. Jessica won in the end, but it was a close call. And she ended up swallowing some of the dust because she didn't move back fast enough.

"Your fighting techniques suck, but we can fix that." She walked closer to Jessica who looked partially gleefull at having dusted the vampire, disgusted at the dust, and shocked it had nearly killed her. "You rely too much on your strength, if you had come across an average vamp you would've been dinner. Luckily for you, the organization I work for specialize in training young women with enhanced speed and strength."

Then she launched into a modified version of the 'you're a Slayer and this is what that means and this is how we're going to deal with it'. Of course, Jessica wasn't actually a Slayer, but it did explain what Faith and the girls back at the Council House were and who she would be working with. The suits would still have to give the more in-dept speech, but Jessica seemed to be a lot like her and so the short version would do. For now.


	3. Learning Curve

**Author's Note**: Written for Day 10 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

Six days after introducing Jessica Jones to the supernatural world and starting to train her in the basics of hand-to-hand fighting, they left Boston. It took Jessica all of two minutes to reject the option to stay in the Boston Slayer House after meeting the four people who lived there permanently. They had all looked a little offended, but the two Watchers took it worst. Faith took it in stride since she had been expecting it. She had also rejected either of the NYC Slayer Houses for the same reasons.

It had been obvious since the first time they met that Jessica wasn't a people person, and moving into a house with four of them just wasn't an option. Faith was the same way, and there was no need for her to change it.

The second option was to send her to their headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. That included even more Mini-Slayers, more Watchers, and in addition, there were Witches, assorted demons, people with various abilities, and a few normal people. Jessica declined that one as well but was told they would have to drop by there at some point to quote-unquote show her off at some point.

Which meant she chose the third option; travel with Faith, at least until she had learned enough to take it to another level.

The day after arriving in Boston had been a blow to the New Yorkers ego, as she was easily defeated by one of the minis in hand-to-hand combat. She'd been determined though and the sparring match had segued easily into a beginner's lesson in how to properly use enhanced speed and strength when your opponent also had enhanced speed and strength. One of the Watchers also insisted on teaching her to properly pull her punches when normal humans were a part of the fight.

Less than a week of practice had done the woman well, despite being told she needed to basically relearn how to do many of the things she'd taken for granted for more than two decades. It wasn't enough by a long shot, but it was a start.

Like Faith, she knew how to fight as they did on the street; fast and brutal but with no real skills. There were basic moves, how to do them, when to do them, and perhaps more importantly when not to do them. She needed to learn when to hit and how and when to block in the most effective ways, and so on and so forth.

On the bright side, it turned out her new stray was research-oriented thanks to her years as a P.I. Which meant she spent her time reading up on everything from Slayers and demons to the true origins of the world, and quite a lot in between while Faith drove. The two Watchers had done their thing, but try as they might it had come off sounding dryer than the Sahara Desert. For the most part, they kept their own counsel unless Jessica had questions or they needed to make a stop.

Faith would Slay something most nights, usually vampires, and if there were some minions she'd leave one for Jessica to test out her new skills. Afterward, they would go dancing. Or rather, Faith would go dancing and Jessica would get her daily dose of whiskey, and if they felt like it one or both of them would pick up some random guy to scratch their itch.

Mornings were used for training and correcting any bad moves Jessica had done the night before if she had been fighting. Learning new moves and countermoves was also on the agenda. Still, the Slayer wasn't really interested in being a teacher and it showed but they persevered.

They got into a routine and it worked for them. At least until Jessica got overconfident one night and needed to be brought to the nearest hospital with a broken elbow and needing a blood transfusion. Given her healing factor they needed to move fast so it wouldn't need to be re-broken and set straight so as not to cause any undue harm long-term.

Which was how Faith ended up in the waiting room closest to the ER, pumped up on adrenaline and without anything to take it out on. The offending vampire had been dust soon after trying to drain her partner? Teammate? Whatever. There would be no vamps or demons in Jessica's immediate future until she had properly understood where she went wrong and why. And got even more training.

Which meant they were going to Cleveland and the Sineya Council's Queen B.


	4. Reality Check

**Timeline**: BtVS: Post-Chosen & JJ: Post-AKA Everything.  
**Disclaimer**: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Jessica Jones/MCU belongs to the Stan Lee Estate and Marvel.  
**Author's Note**: Written for Day 21 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

The drive from middle-of-nowhere, USA to Cleveland took eleven days. Faith refused to allow Jessica to fight anything unless it was sparring with her. Which effectively meant that while the Slayer was out patrolling the various boneyards and other undead hotspots, the emotionally damaged superhero was at the nearest bar drinking cheap whiskey.

Faith had gotten the other woman on the Sineya Council's payroll as soon as she had signed the NDA, read she had sent Buffy the information, even if it was on one of the lower wages at the moment. Once she proved herself as a competent fighter and capable of going up against their kind of baddies she'd get a raise. They were free to use their money on anything they wanted, but drinking alcohol and energy drinks as a replacement for water and other fluids were not going to go over well with the higher-ups.

Arriving at the Sineya Council's Main Headquarters was a special feeling of both being home and constantly being in the spotlight. None of the Scooby Gang lived there permanently, but Giles split his time between the US HQ and their UK HQ more or less evenly. Probably on Queen B's request since she disapproved of the English weather.

B traveled a lot, usually with one or two of the Mini's to show them the ropes outside of the carefully orchestrated training all of the new ones received when they first joined up. She deliberately took the scenic route between the various Council Houses so they could see as many different vamp hangouts as possible.

Red spent most of her time with the Devon Coven, despite losing all of the dark magic she had absorbed over time. She still had power but it wasn't nearly as much as she'd had while the Sunnydale Hellmouth was still open and she could drain power from it. The main reason was her addiction to magic and their consequences.

Xan was one of their resident handymen and also traveled between the various Council Houses to fix whatever got broken, or to build something they wanted. He was surprisingly happy about it.

Dawn and Andrew were attending Oxford and learning magic on the side in addition to working for the Council, but their mentors were from a different coven than Red. Something about them not needing the same kind of help. Whatever.

As far as Faith knew, B was the only one currently at HQ. Introducing Jessica to the crack team that kept Earth safe from demonic threats was best done on a one-on-one basis. Wouldn't want to scare her away after all. All of them together in one place could be... overwhelming to an outsider.

When they drove into the large parking lot the queen herself was waiting, despite not being told when they would get there. Which meant either a great guess, some supernatural shit, or someone broke into Faith's GPS or the surveillance cameras on the way there and then told her.

B looked beautiful as always. Blonde hair loose over a light pink tank top, black leather pants, and black probably stylish shoes. She had been doing something with her phone when the car entered but quickly put it in a back pocket as soon as she saw the car. That meant she'd been there for some time.

"That her?" Jessica asked as soon as she saw someone was standing outside.

"Yeah. The queen herself in all her pink glory." Faith winced a little at the last word but pressed forward. "She must be curious to not wait inside with everyone else." It wasn't that she had the same issues as before, but there was something bad about keeping the two of them in the same close proximity for too long that never ended well.

The introduction went well enough, and B refrained from mentioning the scent of alcohol on their new recruit. It was late enough in the evening that they were allowed to do whatever they wanted rather than starting the big introduction process right away.

The next morning was something else. Jessica got a very thorough health check, followed by a magical check by one of their resident witch healers, and finally, the part Faith was most interested in; the test of Jessica Jones' abilities.

This meant she and B had front row seats to watch a team of Slayers run Jessica through hell for 12 hours with very few and very short breaks. They began with the powers she had listed to Faith; enhanced strength, speed, durability, and flight/high jumping/guided falling. The healing properties would be tested later by using magic.

Erika, one of the Slayers, guided Jessica to a weight room, where she was told to lift the weights in front of her one by one. Each one was heavier than the next. It was simple and efficient but it gave them a basis for what she would be able to handle. Every weight was repeated quite a few times, much to the woman's annoyance.

The verdict was a 3,8 on the 5 point Slayer Scale. Which made her stronger than the average Slayer, but weaker than both Faith and Buffy.

Next up was speed and durability. This time it was a Slayer named Belinda who took charge and showed her the tracks. Holding a stopwatch, Belinda told her to run as fast as she could around the track without holding back. Then a short break before repeating it, over and over.

Afterward, she got a ten-minute break and some water before being ordered back on the track. This time they were checking durability at top speed. Next up was the same but at a more comfortable speed.

The verdict this time was a 4,6 on the 5 point Slayer Scale.

The last test was the flight/jump/falling thing. It was a little trickier as it was normally something they didn't test for, just corrected once they were out on the final stretch of their training. But, they had tall buildings and other structures so they improvised.

The verdict was a little uneven this time. She failed at actual flying. Got a 4,5 on jumping. A 2,1 at falling when attempting to fly, but a 4,6 when she deliberately jumped.

The last thing they did that day was spar. First against an older Slayer with years of experience, then a younger one with only a couple of years, and finally a 16-year-old who had only arrived 4 months prior. It was brutal and all of them could see that Jessica's confidence took a beating.

Still, it wasn't all bad and despite everything, she held promise and a stubborn will to succeed.

It gave the instructors a good starting point, but as they said it was one thing to do something during training but it was something entirely different to do it when your life was at stake.


	5. Mind Healing

Timeline: BtVS: Post-Chosen & JJ: Post-AKA Everything.  
Disclaimer: The Buffyverse belongs to Joss Whedon and Jessica Jones/MCU belongs to the Stan Lee Estate and Marvel.  
Author's Note: Written for Day 30 of the 2019 August Fic-A-Day.

Jessica Jones lasted exactly six months, one week, and two days at Slayer HQ before she called Faith and demanded she come and release her from the teenagers and the instructors from hell. Or else. Faith only barely managed to hold back her laughter at the presumption that Jess could cause any real harm to anyone there. Super strong teenagers with an instinctive ability to fight meant that someone with Jessica's abilities and lack of proper fighting techniques had little or no chance. Even if her training had improved over the months.

Still, the former private investigator had managed to last a lot longer than anyone had expected of her. Faith had bet seven weeks, tops. B had been optimistic and had said three months. No one at HQ had even considered she would last more than four, if for no other reason than that there was a 'no alcohol on campus' rule. A seasoned alcoholic, the woman had managed to find creative ways around it and persevered through whatever they threw at her. From the phone calls and text messages Faith had gotten, there had been a lot of profanities and temper tantrums throughout her stay.

It wasn't just martial arts and other ways of fighting on the menu, she also had to learn melee weaponry, situational awareness, and many other things. There were studies of Slayers, vampires, demons, witches, apocalypses and how they were dealt with, and so on. There was also a short study of the various Avengers and people like Jessica who had abilities. The latter was more information so they knew to avoid them so they didn't get dragged into any of their messes. They had their own mess and didn't need anyone else's, thank you very much!

Seeing a shrink was obligatory as well. It was the part Faith had both hated the most and been the most grateful for when the Sineya Council had been reestablished. As soon as she accepted that her psychologist really was there to help her and not use whatever she said against her, it had been therapeutic and it had helped Faith let go of the past. Which wasn't to say it hadn't hurt like hell to drag all those bad memories back up again, but re-examining them as an adult gave her a very different understanding of much of it.

All of the Scoobies, all of the Potentials-Turned-Slayers, and everyone who worked for them had to see a shrink as well. It wasn't up for debate. Their lives were brutal, people died all the time, and they needed to talk it out with someone. Consequently, they had quite a few psychologists on their payroll.

If you didn't stay at HQ or a Slayer House on a permanent or semi-permanent basis, then you had to either do it over the phone, Skype, or some other way, but you had to have regular sessions to deal with all the crap. On the bright side, if you were somewhere with other Slayers there was usually a chance for some violence therapy afterward.

From what Faith had been told, Jessica had taken advantage of the latter after almost all of her sessions. She could relate. Emotional pain fucking hurt and the best way to deal was to hit someone who understood you just needed to get it out and that it wasn't personal.

Violence Therapy, and yes, that was a real thing with them, was encouraged to avoid someone getting hurt, both their people and innocent bystanders. Even B needed it on occasion, as she was repressed as fuck most of the time. Of course, they were taught to use that pain in a practical manner.

B had told her that Jess was drinking less and trying to deal with at least some of her issues, but she wasn't 12 Stepping it. It was progress, and that was of the good. Putting Jess on the road with her might not be a great idea, but the woman hadn't really connected with anyone at HQ. Her prickly personality remained, even with less help from any liquids with an age limit.

***

It took five days to circle back to Cleveland and HQ, and the Queen Slayer was waiting for her in the parking lot. Alone. Not a good sign, not when she hadn't been called back by her or someone else high up. Fuck.

She parked and exited the car, only to be waved back inside by B. Okay, super-secret stuff then.

"You need to convince Jessica to stay longer, or at least to come back in a few months to continue the in-depth sessions. She's doing well, all things considered, but she would benefit a lot from staying longer."

"Making me stay longer for the shrinks didn't help. Like me, she's been alone for a long time." She looked the other Slayer in the eye, "Making her go through everything in one long, drawn-out session will blow up in your face."

Faith switched topics, "How's the practice going?"

"Much better, but not great." B allowed the change, that meant she'd hear more about it later. "Jessica is much older than the girls who usually come here, and she has two decades worth of bad habits to unlearn."

They stayed in the car for a little while longer, but they both knew the conversation was over.

Jessica was happy to see her and wanted to leave right away, but the rules said she needed to stay for at least three days. Mandatory shink sessions, mandatory meetings with B and whoever else of the higher-ups who were currently there, and of course, the more interesting part: sparring with the other Slayers.

Nothing worthy of extra psych sessions had happened lately, she hadn't had any emotional relapses, and there was nothing Slay-related that concerned her, so on the morning of her fourth day there, they peeled out of there. Jessica hadn't been thrilled when Faith had left her at HQ after only eight days, but she and B were very careful to never spend more than 10 days there together. Or anywhere else.

Despite all the work they had done, there was something that made them incapable of staying together for long periods of time. After some careful experimenting, they had come to the conclusion that it was related to the Slayer Essense, but that was all they really knew. They got along reasonably well if they kept their distance.

***

Things after that went better, and after testing her new partner against several groups of vampire minions and her not getting hurt, she took it as a good sign. There were still sparring sessions between them, and shrink sessions over the phone, and they would occasionally clash, personality-wise. Two people in a car for months at a time would do that, but it worked. Dancing, killing the undead, and fucking whoever looked like they might know what they were doing. It worked.

Apocalypse season was coming up in a few months, so the question was: should Jessica participate or be left out? Should they return to HQ for more training or pass and see if there was something else to kill? Wait and see what this year's apocalypse was, and then decide? Should Faith leave Jess somewhere while she helped stop the world from ending?

Faith didn't ask or even tell Jessica, but she did discuss it with B and Xan over a lot of text messages. Wait and see, seemed to be the general consensus. It would suck if she was thrown in to soon and got herself killed.

But, that was for later, now there were vamps to dance with and the night was still young.


End file.
